Former Arsenal man Lee Dixon has slammed Oleksandr Zinchenko for his defending after the Gunners surrendered more points in their 3-3 draw against Southampton.
Arsenal had dropped points in consecutive games against Liverpool and West Ham and needed to beat The Saints to open up a healthy lead ahead of Manchester City.
However, that never happened; instead, they must now beat the Citizens when both clubs meet next week.
One player whose errors have been punished in recent games for Arsenal is Zinchenko and Dixon is less than impressed.
Speaking about the Ukrainian, he said via the Daily Mail:
‘He’s not a brilliant defender. He’s brilliant on the ball and Arsenal use him to their strengths with the ball.
‘But without the ball, we saw him play a role in Liverpool’s equaliser at Anfield and again today.
‘He’s got to be alive as a defender, whether you sometimes go into midfield or not. It’s your job to keep the ball out of the back of the net.’
Just Arsenal Opinion
Beating Southampton was a must for us and the last thing we needed was to drop points against a club that is at the bottom of the league.
Unfortunately, that happened and it is sad that the players we expect to help the team the most are struggling.
This makes it much harder for us to win the title, and they must step up.
Arteta proud of our comeback after Arsenal 3-3 Southampton
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The problem for this club is Arteta thinks he (Zinchenko) is a good defender.
And even more frustrating, Arteta seems prepared to accept defensive holes at LB in exchange for better control over the game. But the results have been a disaster. Just one example: Bournemouth accepted the invitation and scored through LB in just 14 seconds of kick off.
At the same time our world-class defender Tierney rots of the bench. He will no doubt be classed as “deadwood” and sold for peanuts later this year. Just how THE PROCESS works.
👍
Obvious fact for all to see, yet continues to start at LB and be directly responsible for leaking goals.
Southampton was perfect match to play Zinchenko at CM and Tierney at LB. Test the combination at home against last place Southampton while simultaneously prepare to show City a wrinkle in our tactics.
Great minds think alike👍
Bear in mind this guy has got us 5 points clear at top of the league.
Some very pessimistic people on this forum.
We all agree defensively he has flaws
I go further than LEE DIXON and say that Zinny is not a true defender AT ALL, let alone just “not a brilliant one”.
Clubs pay a points dropped price risk for including an extra midfielder who is actually an attacking midfield player of quality but sadly not a defender all all.
I can easily see we often benefit with him as an extra midfielder, but its very risky much of the time .As has been shown these last two weeks especially.
I remain firmly old school, in far preferring proper specialist defenders who fully understand the vital role of defending properly. I have thought that way all my long life and always will.
I also don’t support zinchenko playing as an lb . He better play as a cm
Lee Dixon knows what “a brilliant defender” looks like, b.ecause he was one. As far as Zinchenko is concerned, I didn’t know that ” very ordinary” equates to “brilliant”.
Arteta seems to believe that it does, as he continues to select Zinchenko.
Zinchenko and Jesus are his go too players. Other players get treated differently.